The Guardians of Kernsville

Chapter 23: Blood Lines

The Princess of Peace hid in an abandoned building across the street from City Hall, where Mark Lancaster works. Sitting on the floor, she stared into his office with a pair of binoculars.

“How’s it going?” she heard from behind her. She jumped, turned around, and saw Dark Vengeance.

“What is wrong with you?”

“I don’t think you want to know,” Dark Vengeance replied. “Besides, it would take way too long.”

“You feel okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t think I didn’t notice your weird behavior?”

“Fine. I’ve been really dizzy lately, and haven’t been able to keep anything down. I think it’s just stress, so I didn’t want to worry anyone.”

“Are you allergic to anything?” She stared out the window.

“Not that I know of.”

“Have you and Danny…?”

“No! No, we haven’t. And I wouldn’t tell you if we had.”

“Wait, I have an idea. Are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?”

“Just my pants,” Dark Vengeance said. “Why?”

“Change back.”

“Okay. Deactivate: Dark Vengeance,” she said, changing back to Rebbeca. “Now what?” The Princess of Peace stood up and reached her hands into Rebbeca’s pants pockets. “What are you doing?”

The Princess of Peace pulled a small shard of white crystal out of her pocket. “Don’t have any allergies, huh?”

“So that’s what it feels like.”

“What?”

“My mom had a very rare blood type. When she came in contact with White Crystal, she became very weak and sick,” Rebbeca said. “That’s one of the reasons why she died. After her car accident, she had lost so much blood that she needed a transfusion. But the doctors had never seen her blood type before, and couldn’t match it. You can’t mix that rare blood with any other, or it’s certain death. She didn’t have a chance.”

“How did she get this rare blood type?”

“I didn’t get the chance to ask her.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. All I know is that if you wouldn’t have found that crystal on me, I would’ve died.”

“Maybe that’s why.”

“Why, what?”

“When you were at my office the other day, I tried to calm you, but couldn’t.”

“It must be because of my blood.” She stared at the crystal. “So the question is, how did that get in my pocket?”

“Sam!” The Princess of Peace said. “He put it in your pocket, yesterday.”

“When Caster was controlling him,” Rebbeca nodded. “She’s sneakier then I thought.” They looked out the window at Mark’s office.

“Which one do you think it is?” The Princess of Peace asked.

“The only thing I know about Mark, is that he tried to blame me for what happened to Abigail. Sam and I stopped talking a while ago. You?”

“Sam and I have been dating for the last two months, and I’ve never met Mark. So, to answer your question, I don’t know. Have you called Danny yet?”

“No,” Rebbeca said. She dialed his number on her phone. “But I’m glad to hear that Sam found someone else besides me.”

“What?”

“Now’s not a good time,” Danny said, when he answered the phone.

“Then I’ll make this quick.” She put her phone on speaker. “Where’s Retsacnal?”

“He’s here with us. Why, what’s wrong?”

“Mark’s not in his office,” The Princess of Peace said.

“How long has he been there?”

“About five minutes,” Danny replied.

“Kern,” Rebbeca said. “Retsacnal’s not Sam, he’s Mark.”

“Okay, I gotta go.”

“Okay, bye.”

“I just got off the phone with Drake,” The Princess of Peace said. “I told him about Mark and he said he’d tell the others.”

“What about Abby?”

“He said he’d tell her.”

“Good,” Rebbeca said. “She’ll take it better from him.”

“That’s what he said.”

“Well, I have to go meet someone. Here are the keys to the car and I will see you at Headquarters.”

“Okay.” The Princess of Peace took the keys and walked toward the door. “Oh, by the way…happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

They both left the building. Rebbeca stood on the corner of the sidewalk, waiting for a chance to cross, when her phone rang. “Hello?”

“You can cover your tracks as much as you want, but someone will always be there to uncover them,” a man’s voice said.

She took a breath as her heart started beating faster. “Who is this?”

“Not who, but what.”

The building that Rebbeca and The Princess of Peace were just in, exploded. The explosion sent Rebbeca flying into the middle of the road. Cars pulled over and people started coming out of buildings. Rebbeca got to her knees, putting her hands on her ears. They were ringing louder than anything she’d ever heard before. Once she could hear again, she picked up her phone and put it to her ear. “What do you want?”

“Drop the act, Dark Vengeance. Because it’s not going to last much longer.” Then he hung up.

She examined her injuries: road rash on her left cheek, a scratch on her hand that stretched from one side to the other, a bruised hip, and a sore arm. She sat on the road until an ambulance and a fire truck arrived. A couple of people helped her to the ambulance. Her dad watched as they patched her up, and the second they were done, he asked them to leave. “What happened?”

“What does it look like?” She could tell he was already having a bad day, and this was just the cherry on the cake.

“Fine,” he said. “Who did this?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“If you’re going to act like that, then, why bother coming at all?”

“Because, I’m your father.”

“And that’s why you sound so concerned.” She stood up and walked away from him, with a slight limp. Sam just got done taping off the area, when Rebbeca walked up to him. “Any chance I could get a lift?”

“Uh…” he glanced over her shoulder at her dad. “Sure, yeah.” He handed the tape to another officer, and then led Rebbeca to his squad car. “Where to?”

“Just drive,” she said, as he started the car. Sam drove to Center Market, in the middle of town, and pulled over.

“Okay…we need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Well, we’re not going anywhere until we do.”

They looked at each other, and then looked away. Rebbeca pushed the door open and got out.

“Rebbeca…” He got out of the car. “Just wait-”

“Why? So you can grill me, too?”

“I want to help you with whatever’s going on, but you need to talk to me.”

“Fine.” She got back in the car. “Did you know your sister is The Crystal Girl?”

“Yeah.”

“And your girlfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“So, I assume you know about me and Drake?”

“Yep.”

“How long have you known?” Rebbeca asked. “And why didn’t you say anything?”

“A couple months,” he replied. “But I don’t want any part of it.”

“Then, you shouldn’t have fallen in love with a hero.”

“I couldn’t say the same to you, could I?”

“Danny is a hero, Sam.”

“Right,” he scoffed. He glanced out the window, resting his wrist on the steering wheel. “So, who blew the building up?”

“Not sure. But I need your help.”

“With what?”

“Officer Kelley was my eyes and ears in the police station. So, I was wondering if you could take his place, since he’s in Riverstone.”

“You want me to spy on my fellow officers? Are you crazy?”

“I’m not asking you to lie or steal. All I’m asking is that you do the job Ben Kelley did for the past four years.”

“Fine,” he rolled his eyes.

“One more thing.”

“What?”

“There’s something you should know about your parents.”

“And what’s that?”

“They’ve been trying to kill us.”

The elevator doors at the team’s HQ opened, and Sarah J walked out. She saw Drake in one of the back rooms, and walked up to him.

“Where’s Beca?”

“She said she had to meet someone, why?”

“Good,” he said, “because the building you guys were in, just blew up.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Did you tell Abby?”

“Yep.”

“And…?”

“And she went home.”

“I saw Proto and Keko out front.”

“Yeah,” Drake said. “They got bored in here, so I told them to take it outside.”

“So, did you find anything?”

“Two people without lives before the last three weeks.”

“Good job,” Rebbeca said, as she walked in.

“Hey, are you okay?” Drake asked.

“Nothing that time won’t heal. So, who are they?”

“Amy Traf and John Hall.” He handed her a sheet of paper with their pictures on it.

“Awesome,” Sarah J said.

“So, what happened, Beca?”

“Someone called me from an unknown number. Then, ten seconds later, the stupid building explodes. And then, my dad made it clear that he cared more about what happened to the building than me.” She handed Drake her phone and passed the paper to Sarah J. “Don’t mind me; I’m just blowing off steam.”

“I’ll see if I can get that number off your phone.”

“Thanks, but I’m going home,” Rebbeca said. “I talked to Sam and he said he’d help us.”

“Good to know,” Sarah J and Drake said at the same time. Rebbeca left the room and headed home. When she go there, she went to her room and slammed the door behind her.

A few seconds later, someone knocked on her door. “Come in.” She turned around and saw her dad. “What?”

“I wanted to apologize for all of the fights we’ve been getting into. Especially since today’s your birthday.”

“I’m surprised you remembered.”

“Last year was a one-time thing.”

“What about when you forgot, three years ago?”

“Okay, but it won’t happen again.” He gave her a small black box.

“Dad-”

“I’ve tried to give you this for the past three years. I think, since you’re eighteen now, you should take it.”

“Fine,” she said, taking it from him. She opened the box and saw a small black heart on a silver chain.

“I made this.” He pulled the necklace out of the box and put it around her neck. The heart glowed as it touched her skin. “It’s a time traveling necklace. Only a member of the Stone family can use it.”

“Does it work?”

“I did say I made it. So, yeah, it works.”

“You sure you want me to have it?”

“I think you can handle it,” Frank said, and kissed her on the cheek. Then, he walked to the door. “Goodnight, Sweetie.”

Other Collections

About Us:

Inkitt is the world’s first reader-powered book publisher, offering an online community for talented authors and book lovers. Write captivating stories, read enchanting novels, and we’ll publish the books you love the most based on crowd wisdom.